1. grab some sticks...all different lengths, all different shapes. place together to see how they look.

2. grab an old pot you have lying around the house (remembering that the longer your sticks are the heavier and larger your pot has to be). i spray painted mine white.... i did this for last years tree.

3. Tie the sticks together at the bottom. i think i used wire then wrapped jute around to cover it.

4. pop the sticks into the pot. fill up the pot with sand/gravel or rocks. (keep in mind beach sand, while beautiful and white, doesn't hold the sticks up too well...and you'll need to close the hole at the bottom).

5. now, you can either spray paint your sticks before you start with the wool or not. it's up to you. depends on the look you are going for. my tree was already white from last year.

6. now the part that takes the longest.......this took me a few hours over a few days while i was catching up on tv shows. put some glue at the base of the tree and wrap the wool around the bottom of the sticks. i found it easier to use 4 lengths of wool at a time. it was way quicker!

7. wrap the wool around the sticks gluing every now and then...working out what looks best with your sticks and arrangement. when you're ready to change colours...just glue the ends down onto the stick. then go and go and go for gold!

(hint: when you get to the thinnest part of the sticks...run glue all the way up the twig...it strengthens the twig and gives the wool a bit more to wrap around)

8. with the smallest twigs, i wrapped extra bits of wool around the tip to create a little ball at the end...as below.

9. then all that's left to do is decorate!

so maybe not so time effective, but very simple! and effective i think : )

i actually think it would be awesome to do this just as an everyday decoration in different coloured wools.